I'm going to speak with the financial aid office at Michigan tomorrow. I've got money at Michigan and about 25% less at Columbia. I want to get more at Michigan to help seal the deal and make me feel less like I'm giving up a once in a lifetime shot at Columbia, but despite reading a lot of threads I still feel in the dark about what to say.

Should I present myself as confident or pleading? Do I just say "Here's the situation, what can you do for me?", or do I need to make a case about why Michigan is great but Columbia is better here and that's why I need the money to make up my mind?

gmreplay wrote:I'm going to speak with the financial aid office at Michigan tomorrow. I've got money at Michigan and about 25% less at Columbia. I want to get more at Michigan to help seal the deal and make me feel less like I'm giving up a once in a lifetime shot at Columbia, but despite reading a lot of threads I still feel in the dark about what to say.

Should I present myself as confident or pleading? Do I just say "Here's the situation, what can you do for me?", or do I need to make a case about why Michigan is great but Columbia is better here and that's why I need the money to make up my mind?

I just really don't want it to be a two minute affair where I say "what can you do for me?" and they say "nothing lol, we already gave you more money than they did". If I go with the latter it will be something more along the lines of "I want to make a good investment and here are some things that concern me about what Michigan does versus what Columbia does, so I would feel more confident about my choice if you offered me X amount more".

You need to focus on why you are interested in Michigan and state you have an offer at Columbia. Don't even tell them the amount. State you are very interested in Michigan, but are having a hard time making your decision due to your other offer. Then ask if they can increase their offer.

gmreplay wrote:I'm going to speak with the financial aid office at Michigan tomorrow. I've got money at Michigan and about 25% less at Columbia. I want to get more at Michigan to help seal the deal and make me feel less like I'm giving up a once in a lifetime shot at Columbia, but despite reading a lot of threads I still feel in the dark about what to say.

Should I present myself as confident or pleading? Do I just say "Here's the situation, what can you do for me?", or do I need to make a case about why Michigan is great but Columbia is better here and that's why I need the money to make up my mind?

I actually spoke to the Aid office today. They also seemed much more concerned with the scholarship itself than with the reasons I had. I was told to just fax or email the competing offer(s) to them and they would see what they could do.

I don't think telling them what the other offer is is a good idea. You're dealing with U.S. News #4 and #7 schools. The difference is so slight that I think Michigan would look at your offer at Columbia and say, "We're cheaper to begin with, offered X% more off sticker and we're only 3 slots behind Columbia. Take your offer or go." (IMHO).

If you're going to negotiate this you don't show your hand. Since you're approaching them about this I'm sure they assume you'd rather go to Columbia, but I'd think they would think they (Michigan) surely offered more. How much more is what you have going for you. If they think Columbia came close then they might bump up your offer to keep you.

I just really think that if they (Michigan) know they offered you substantially more than what Columbia did then they aren't going to move. Instead they'll force you to choose between going 3 slots higher and taking on more debt or going to Michigan.

Perhaps the better way to approach this is backwards. Go to Columbia and tell them about the Michigan offer and see if you can get them to go up. If Columbia bumps up, then you have better ammunition to use on Michigan. If they don't, well it's not like you hurt anything...you'll be exactly where you started.

leejh38 wrote:I don't think telling them what the other offer is is a good idea. You're dealing with U.S. News #4 and #7 schools. The difference is so slight that I think Michigan would look at your offer at Columbia and say, "We're cheaper to begin with, offered X% more off sticker and we're only 3 slots behind Columbia. Take your offer or go." (IMHO).

If you're going to negotiate this you don't show your hand. Since you're approaching them about this I'm sure they assume you'd rather go to Columbia, but I'd think they would think they (Michigan) surely offered more. How much more is what you have going for you. If they think Columbia came close then they might bump up your offer to keep you.

I just really think that if they (Michigan) know they offered you substantially more than what Columbia did then they aren't going to move. Instead they'll force you to choose between going 3 slots higher and taking on more debt or going to Michigan.

Perhaps the better way to approach this is backwards. Go to Columbia and tell them about the Michigan offer and see if you can get them to go up. If Columbia bumps up, then you have better ammunition to use on Michigan. If they don't, well it's not like you hurt anything...you'll be exactly where you started.

leejh38 wrote:I don't think telling them what the other offer is is a good idea. You're dealing with U.S. News #4 and #7 schools. The difference is so slight that I think Michigan would look at your offer at Columbia and say, "We're cheaper to begin with, offered X% more off sticker and we're only 3 slots behind Columbia. Take your offer or go." (IMHO).

If you're going to negotiate this you don't show your hand. Since you're approaching them about this I'm sure they assume you'd rather go to Columbia, but I'd think they would think they (Michigan) surely offered more. How much more is what you have going for you. If they think Columbia came close then they might bump up your offer to keep you.

I just really think that if they (Michigan) know they offered you substantially more than what Columbia did then they aren't going to move. Instead they'll force you to choose between going 3 slots higher and taking on more debt or going to Michigan.

Perhaps the better way to approach this is backwards. Go to Columbia and tell them about the Michigan offer and see if you can get them to go up. If Columbia bumps up, then you have better ammunition to use on Michigan. If they don't, well it's not like you hurt anything...you'll be exactly where you started.

Tried it, and Columbia was a no go. Frankly in my experience it seems that the financial aid offices have a mechanical system that decides how far they'll budge on aid, not any explanation for why you think the aid is warranted or needed in your particular case.